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We've been looking at three mid-19th-century Cherry Tree quilts from Kentucky
with nearly identical trees and similar stuffed quilting.
"We think these quilts were made as birth gifts for several members of our grandmother's family....The quilt was made by a woman in Woodford County, Kentucky (Versailles). It cost Mahalia Dale Wilhoit $80.00 and was a gift to her daughter..."
The third is attributed to Virginia Ivey of Logan County.
What to make of it all?
My guess: We have here clues to a professional quiltmaker making high-end needlework for sale
and I am guessing that woman was Virginia Ivey.
Virginia Mason Ivey (1828-?)
Smithsonian
The Russellville Fair whitework quilt
Smithsonian
And that Russellville Fair quilt---perhaps a show-off piece to advertise a business. These are weak clues....someone looking for a quilt research project might want to spend some time in Logan County, Kentucky.
And to add to the mix:
Here's a fourth cherry tree from the Michigan Project, one that belongs to a collector.
It may be dated 1910, fifty years after the other three.
The tree roots are different, not so detailed as the Kentucky quilts
and it has a much simpler border and no stuffed work quilting.
Quilt attributed to Virginia Ivy (note different spelling)
by Lowery Antiques
They told nothing of how they assigned the maker and they
seemed to have acquired it from another dealer who may have been their source.
Grapes in the border but no stuffed quilting.
No mysteries solved...